The era of the coffee-fetching intern saddled with busy work might be behind us, but you probably still think of internships as minimum-wage labor, if costing anything at all.

You might be surprised to hear, then, that if protracted over a full year, interns at some companies would make more than $80,000.

The list of the 25 best-paying internships, compiled by Glassdoor.com, is dominated by big tech companies. Two software service companies top the list, with the average intern at Palantir pocketing $7,012 a month. VMware isn't far behind at $6,996. Social media giants Twitter, LinkedIn, and Facebook round out the top five in that order, with each paying interns more than $6,000 a month. (See the full list in the infographic below this article.)

These high intern wages speak to the level of competition major tech companies (and the few non-tech companies on the list) feel in trying to recruit top talent--even before they've graduated.

But if you're a small company looking to bring on some student help this summer, you don't necessarily need to break the bank to do so. While interns say money is important to them (74 percent of those surveyed by Glassdoor said so), the opportunity to advance their careers is still paramount (77 percent).

According to Allyson Willoughby, Glassdoor's SVP of People, said this means letting interns do actual work in their field, and the opportunity to make connections with executives and key people at the company or in the industry.